Use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine among People with Multiple Sclerosis in the Nordic Countries
Table 1
Representative characteristics of the study population.
Denmark
Norway
Sweden
Finland
Iceland
OR
(CI)
OR
(CI)
OR
(CI)
OR
(CI)
Member register (sex and age known)
7123
4593
2435
5845
384*
Male (%)
2078 (29.2)
1321 (28.8)
579 (23.8)
1514 (25.9)
Data missing
<40 years (%)
1404 (19.7)
862 (18.8)
362 (14.9)
1224 (20.9)
Data missing
41–60 years (%)
3607 (50.6)
2370 (51.6)
1251 (51.4)
3070 (52.6)
Data missing
>60 years (%)
2112 (29.7)
1361 (29.6)
821 (33.7))
1551 (26.5)
Data missing
Survey sample (OR versus member register)
3361
1014
1046
1045
384*
Male (%)
976 (29.0)
0.99
(0.91–1.08)
291 (28.7)
0.99
(0.86–1.15)
251 (24.0)
1.00
(0.85–1.19)
274 (26.2)
1.01
(0.87–1.16)
Data missing
<40 years (%)
671 (19.9)
1.01
(0.91–1.12)
189 (18.6)
0.99
(0.83–1.17)
157 (15.0)
1.01
(0.82–1.23)
222 (21.3)
1.01
(0.86–1.18)
Data missing
41–60 years (%)
1690 (50.3)
0.99
(0.92–1.06)
520 (51.3)
0.99
(0.88–1.11)
536 (51.3)
0.99
(0.88–1.12)
553 (52.9)
1.01
(0.90–1.12)
Data missing
>60 years (%)
1001 (29.8)
1.00
(0.92–1.09)
305 (30.1)
1.01
(0.88–1.16)
353 (33.7)
1.00
(0.86–1.15)
270 (25.8)
0.97
(0.84–1.12)
Data missing
Respondents (OR versus survey sample)
(response rate)
1865 (55.5)
516 (50.9)
627 (59.9)
551 (52.7)
236 (61.5)*
Male (%)
520 (27.9)
0.96
(0.85–1.08)
150 (29.0)
1.01
(0.81–1.26)
149 (23.8)
0.99
(0.79–1.24)
138 (25.0)
0.95
(0.75–1.20)
54 (22.8)
<40 years (%)
351 (18.8)
0.94
(0.81–1.08)
76 (14.7)
0.79
(0.59–1.05)
81 (12.9)
0.86
(0.64–1.14)
103 (18.7)
0.87
(0.68–1.13)
62 (26.2)
41–60 years (%)
1047 (56.1)
1.11
(1.01–1.22)+
304 (58.9)
1.14
(0.96–1.37)
373 (59.5)
1.16
(0.98–1.36)
323 (58.6)
1.11
(0.93–1.31)
137 (57.8)
>60 years (%)
468 (25.1)
0.84
(0.74–0.95)−
136 (26.4)
0.87
(0.69–1.10)
173 (27.6)
0.81
(0.66–1.01)
125 (22.7)
0.88
(0.69–1.11)
38 (16.0)
The precise number of people with MS who are members of the Icelandic MS Society is not known. It is known that there are 430 people with MS in Iceland, and a study has shown that out of 358 people with MS, 320 (89.4%) were members of the Icelandic MS Society. Therefore, it is assumed that there are approximately 384 people with MS in the member register of the Icelandic MS Society. signifies that the prevalence is significantly higher than the lowest prevalence. Significance has been determined by interpretation of the 95% confidence intervals (CIs) (if 1 is contained in the CI, ).
